The present invention relates to personal mobile computing devices commonly known as mobile devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for viewing content of documents in a user-friendly manner.
Mobile devices are small electronic computing devices often referred to as personal digital assistants. Many such mobile devices are hand-held devices, or palm-size devices, which comfortably fit within the hand. One commercially available mobile device is sold under the trade name hand-held PC (or H/PC) having software provided by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.
Generally, the mobile device includes a processor, random access memory (RAM) and an input device such as a keyboard and a display. The keyboard can be integrated with a display, such as where the keyboard is incorporated as a touch sensitive display. A communication interface is optionally provided and is commonly used to communicate with a desktop computer. A replaceable or changeable battery powers the mobile device. Optionally, the mobile device can receive power from an external power source that overrides or recharges the built-in battery.
Many mobile devices have access to information through a wireless transmission link. Such information can include electronic mail or pager information including news, weather, sports, traffic and local event information. Additionally, mobile devices are used to browse web or internet content. However, internet content is designed to be rendered on a desktop personal computer and thus are inconvenient to browse and render on a mobile device having a limited screen size. A number of current methods exist for viewing and browsing web content on a mobile device. In some instances, an excerpt of a web page is provided to the mobile device. In other instances, a web page is summarized and provided to the mobile device.
While these methods can be adequate for viewing web pages, a need exists for browsing and rendering various types of files and documents. Browsing a large number of documents for relevant information on a mobile device can be time consuming and frustrating to a user, especially when a user can only view a title or limited excerpt of the document. Thus, there is a need for developing a user-friendly apparatus for browsing and viewing documents on a mobile device.